Fork removed from man's stomach after 10 years

Cudworth
-
After experiencing severe abdominal cramps and vomiting blood, Lee Gardner, of Cudworth, U.K. was taken to Barnsley Hospital.

While doctors explored his stomach and intestines, they found it wasn’t the food he had eaten that was to blame, but what he used to eat food with, according to a BBC report.

"While they were looking inside me with the camera the doctor said 'are you sure you've not swallowed anything?' I said no but when he asked again 'are you sure, I can see prongs of what appears to be a fork', I remembered accidentally swallowing one years and years ago," said Gardner.

Mr. Gardner says he was "fooling around" when he gagged and swallowed the nine-inch fork.

The nine-inch disposable fork apparently lay nicely against the man’s innards for about a decade causing him little or no discomfort.

However, after 10 years, the pointy utensil dislodged and lanced his stomach lining, causing much pain and bleeding.

After accidently swallowing the fork, Gardner claims he was advised he would eventually eliminate it naturally, and that’s why he didn’t mention it to doctors.

Doctors at Barnsley Hospital were able to surgically remove the fork and said they expect Gardner to recover fully.

What doctors are less able to understand is how a man could live for 10 years with a fork in his belly without becoming ill from such a large foreign intrusion.

Surgeon Hanis Shiwani said: "If something does get lodged, then normally a patient would become ill almost immediately.

"This is why Lee's case is so uncharacteristic, not just because the object is a fork but because we believe there are only a handful of cases reported like this where a foreign object has been inside someone for such a long time.

"Lee is extremely lucky that the fork hasn't caused more damage but we are confident he will make a full recovery," said Shiwani.